Project Sparks Church Growth

When LATCOM representatives arrived for a church service in the village of Coloradillo, they were amazed. Church members were crammed into the tiny adobe chapel, built 25 years earlier by missionary Mel Ferguson. In 2008, the congregation was almost dead. Four years later, the chapel couldn't hold everyone. How did this amazing transformation occur?

A foundation was begun for the Coloradillo church. The 

current chapel is seen in the background.

In 2009 a strategic plan called the NETS Project was developed by national Bolivian missionaries supported by LATCOM. Its goal was to evangelize area villages and to stimulate church growth. This plan has resulted in explosive growth in the five area churches previously built by foreign missionaries and in the construction of two new churches. This project has gained momentum and area leaders have been challenged to enlarge their visions.

The evangelical believers built a  house for a widow in

their congregation. The foundation for their new church

building can be seen in the foreground.

One such leader is Pastor Fermin. His village of 40 families relies primarily on subsistence farming, local weaving done by women, and the few odd jobs men can find on area ranches and mines. The income level is abysmal. Yet despite their poverty, the church, under Fermin’s leadership, has chosen not to sit idly by and hope for foreign aid or government funding.

Pastor Fermin

In 2011 Fermin asked his congregation to set aside two weeks for the church. In that two weeks, his parishioners, including women and children, put aside their normal activities and built the foundations for a new church. When they completed that, they began the construction of a small home for one of the widows in the community. With outside direction, they also started two micro-businesses for chicken production as well as a community vegetable garden.

Fermin and his small congregation are not letting their poverty or size deter them from expanding and reaching out to others. But, they need help to go the next step. The believers will make their own adobe bricks, but need financial assistance with building supplies such as roofing materials, cement, and lumber for rafter, doors, windows, and benches. About one-fourth of the estimated project costs has been raised. Contact LATCOM for you are interested in helping this community.